Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

As a freelance copywriter, I have been blogging for several years now, so what I do has become second nature. But many of you are probably coming to blogging without any experience and find the whole concept daunting. To me, it is a simple and effective method you can use to promote your business, elevate yourself to expert status within your field and get the word out about what you do.

Last week I had lunch with one of my clients who was quizzing me about various aspects of social media marketing, including blogging. As I enthusiastically launched into a speech outlining all the major benefits that blogging brings, I could see he was drowning in information overload. So I thought the easiest way to explain how to blog effectively was to blog about it.

How to be an effective blogger

The key to blogging is to do it regularly. It’s like all social media, the more you do it, the more exposure you’ll get and the more you’ll get out of it. The optimium blogging frequency will differ depending on who you talk to. Some blog daily, some even multiple times per day. But to be successful, you have to find a frequency that works for you.

Personally, I post blogs three times a week (twice a week on my other blog). This fits in with the time I have available and provides regular content for my readers. Whatever you decide, stick to it. As you gather regular readers they will grow to expect your next ‘installment’ so don’t disappoint them.

To help me stay on course, I tend to blog ahead and schedule the posts. Therefore if I have a ‘quiet’ day I can write several posts, upload them and schedule them for publication – this can save a lot of time.

As you read this, the number of times you blog probably isn’t at the forefront of your mind right now. You’re probably thinking how on earth can you constantly generate new ideas? Well, we’ll look at that next.

Ideas factory

Coming up with new material can seem daunting when you’re first starting out. So here are some tips to make sure those ideas keep flowing:

• keep a pad on  your desk so when an idea comes to you, you can jot it down
• read other industry blogs and magazines to generate ideas
• comment on current affairs especially if you can tie them into your industry
• invite your readers to comment – you may get some spin off ideas from these
• write ‘how to articles’ and ‘top tips’ relating to what you do

Before you know it, you’ll have a stack of articles  ready to go.

What’s your purpose?

As you are writing, make sure you know why you are writing. Every post must be created with a purpose. You may be looking to promote something through your writing, perhaps you want to start a discussion, you might be after more business or perhaps you want to attract links.

Whatever it is, keep this in the forefront of your mind as you write.

Every post is valuable so make sure you make it work for you.

Giving something back

Don’t forget, if you want people to take time out of their busy day to read your posts, you have to give them something in return.

The information has to be of value to them. Plus, try to remain on topic. What do I mean? Well, this blog is all about copywriting tips, marketing tips, how to use social media marketing and copywriting SEO related issues. So when a post is published you, my readers, know roughly what genre it will be about. If you bombard your readers with random posts they probably won’t come back for more.

Make your blog an encyclopedia for your area of expertise.

Write simply and with love

The layout of your blog post is very important. It has to be attractive and not too heavy.

Begin with a catchy heading. It should be interesting enough to draw in your reader so arouse their curiosity. To help your SEO, get your keyword in there – so if you are writing about copywriting, try and get that into the heading if you can.

Next comes an image. You may not see that as important, but a good image will draw readers in. Use something playful, something that will pique their curiosity.

Then comes the hard part – writing an interesting and entertaining post. Make sure the body of your post is packed with useful information. You know the audience you are targeting and therefore you’ll know what they are looking for – so give to them in spades. Break up the copy with sub headings to make it easier to read. And finally don’t let it go out with a fizzle; invite comments or add in a call to action (depending on what the aim of your post is).

So that’s how I go about blogging. What do you do? Do you have any other ideas to help out the new bloggers on the block?

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Blogging is a very powerful social media marketing tool.

It can help drive targeted traffic to your website as well as elevate you to expert status within your chosen field.

But if your blogging is to be effective, you have to keep it fresh.

The best way to achieve that, is to post regularly. In an ideal world that would mean daily posts, but for many (including me) that simply isn’t possible. But, it is vital that you decide how regularly you are going to up date and stick to it.

Your readers are creatures of habit and will get to expect the same frequency of posts from you. For example, I blog three times a week on Freelance Copywriters Blog. Therefore my regular readers know that on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday a new blog will appear. (I also blog twice a week on my main website – Briar Copywriting.)

This constant stream of fresh content is vital to:

• Keep you readers interested
• To keep the search engines interested

Keeping up momentum can be difficult – so here are 3 tips you can use to help you keep your blog fresh.

Specify a time

Once you’ve decided how often you’re going to blog, you need to make sure you set aside some time every week to ensure you produce the content.

The best way is to be very strict and allocate a couple of hours a day dedicated to research and blog writing. If daily writing isn’t possible for you, set a specific day or part of a day when you just blog. It won’t take long to get into the routine.

For me, my week days are pretty full-on keeping up with the copywriting work for my clients. Therefore I allocate a few hours on Sunday afternoon – normally when my son is at fencing club. So while he’s playing with swords (OK, foils) I’m sat in the leisure centre’s cafe with my laptop, writing.

Of course there will be times when life conspires against you and you can’t post. If this does happen it pays to get into the habit of posting up a short message telling your readership when the next post will appear. If you keep them informed, they are more likely to stay loyal.

Use publishing tools

As I mentioned above, I write my posts for the week on a Sunday. Therefore I use the publishing tools available to me on my blog to schedule my posts.

Therefore I can spend a few hours writing, upload them to my blog and set the date and time I want them published. Then I am free to crack on with my workload through the week knowing my pre-written posts will be published when I specified.

Guest bloggers

Using guest bloggers is another way to ensure regular content appears on your blog.

They can also add variety to your blog by introducing a new voice and perspective. Of course, you’ll want to ensure the subject matter is relevant to your readership.

The best way to see whether guest posts go down well with your readers is to check your analytics after each post. If it didn’t go down well, it may be best not to use that guest blogger again. After all they should enhance your blog not damage it.

Regular blogging will pay dividends, but it is hard work and time consuming. But by building your blogging time into your weekly schedule you’ll ensure fresh content is always available for your readers.

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So you’re a blogger.

You may have been blogging for a while, or you may have just started out. Whether you are blogging for business or for pleasure, maintaining your blog is essential if you are to keep and build on your number of readers.

There are three main factors that can determine the success of your blog:

• The subject of your blog
• How your blog looks (it’s aesthetic layout)
• How you promote your blog

If you write about an obscure subject, you will limit your audience. But if you are writing about specific topic – for example, I use this blog to mainly talk about copywriting – try and stick to that area. For me, I write about being a copywriter, copywriting tips, marketing suggestions, social media and search engine optimisation. Basically, all these areas interrelate and so add value to my readers (I hope).

The look of your blog is also very important. Many people like things clean and simple. Over use of adverts and flashy images can be very off putting, so give careful consideration about how you want your blog to look.

Finally, don’t make the mistake of  thinking that if you post articles they will automatically get read. You have to promote your blog so people know it’s there – list it in blog directories, utilise the power of SEO, and use social media to spread the word.

How to maintain your blog

• The main key to maintaining your blog is to post regularly. As your readership grows, they will become used to you posting regularly. If they know you are going to generate regular, great content it will give them an incentive to return.

• Blogging is also about building a relationship with your readers. Over time they get to recognise your voice. When they come to your blog it will be like popping in to see an old friend. That type of bond can be very powerful and will retain readers.

• You also have to understand your audience. The best way to attract a wide readership is by concentrating on a niche. As I mentioned earlier, mine is on all things copywriting and marketing. My readers know that each post will give them some new information about this topic. By focusing on a specific area, your readers will come to see you as an authority in that field.

• Nothing ever stays the same forever, but if you want to make changes to the look and feel of your blog, make only small ones at a time. To your readers, your blog is like a comfortable pair of slippers. They know what they’ll get when they visit it. If you give it a major overhaul, it can be a shock. People don’t like change – so if you do want to revamp, just do a bit at a time and monitor each change to see what effect it has had.

Remember – post regularly, write for your audience, only make small changes at a time – follow those simple rules and you and your readers will enjoy a mutual blogging relationship for a long time to come.

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Blogging is a fantastic way of generating traffic on the web.

But blogging without a plan is rather like rowing without a paddle – you’re not going anywhere.

I’m sure you have utilised the power of search engine optimisation for your main ‘sales’ website, but are you using it on your blog too?

Many bloggers overlook this vital aspect of blogging. Generating great content regularly is all well and good, but if you’re not getting it in front of the right people, why bother?

Blogging SEO

So how do you go about SEO when blogging? For your main website you have optimised copy, optimised H1 tags, optimised title tags etc. But the content on your blog will be changing continuously, so can you maintain SEO?

It basically comes down to three elements – keywords, back links and images. So let’s look at each one in turn.

Keywords

Just as you did for the web copy on your main website, you need to research your keywords when you write blog posts. If you have a subject you want to write about, take a look at one of the free tools (such as Google’s) to find the associated words that can be used within your text to enhance your SEO.

Make sure you use your main keywords within the post’s heading and sub headings. As you write your post, don’t get hung up with the number of times you use your keywords, instead write naturally. Don’t just use your main keywords over and over; add in modifiers too – e.g. rather than stiffing your copy with copywriter, intersperse it with phrases like – website copywriter, SEO copywriter, brochure copywriter, marketing copywriter etc.

Back links

Attracting back links to your blog will help your rankings. Therefore the more people you can bring to your blog through your SEO efforts the better.

Generating interesting copy that your audience wants to read will encourage others to link to you. And, the ‘better’ the site that links to you, the more authority you will be seen to have.

One way (unreciprocated) links are the best ones to have as they are seen as more valuable by the search engines than reciprocated links. These should be generated over time by offering great content. Don’t be tempted to sign up to offerings that promise thousands of links over night – your links should be quality, genuine links. And that takes time, but, in the long run, will produce great results for you.

Images

The use of images in your blog posts will attract readers. Including eye-catching, intriguing images will lure readers to you. Although the image itself won’t help your SEO, the image tag will.

This is often overlooked by people. Use your keywords in those tags but make sure they have some relevance to the picture.

Why am I telling you this?

These three simple enhancements to your blogging will help you generate more interest and a greater number of readers. Plus, when you write your blog posts, by adding hypertext keyword links back to your main site, you’ll drive more traffic to your main site. And more traffic means more sales.

Blogging is one of the most powerful social media techniques you can use in your internet marketing strategy. But you must be patient. Shed loads of targeted traffic won’t be generated over night. But if you follow these simple SEO techniques, you’ll soon begin to build a readership.

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The benefits of blogging for business are obvious. It will help drive traffic to your website, allow you to get your views and opinions ‘out there’, give you a method of conversing with your customers and establish you as an expert in your industry.

But are you spending time reading other people’s blogs?

The benefits of taking time out of your busy schedule to read what others are talking about are numerous. Not least because it keeps you up to date with current thinking and trends in your field and those associated with your business.

It will also help keep you up to date with the ever changing world of search engine optimisation so you can ensure your online marketing activities are always at their optimum.

But more than that, reading and commenting on other people’s blogs will help drive traffic back to your website. However, that doesn’t mean you should merrily write any old thing in the hope of people tracking you down over the web.

If you are going to set up a blog commenting strategy, make sure you do it well.

How not to comment on blogs

A lot of people are beginning to understand the benefits of commenting on other’s blogs, but many are doing it badly.

You may think that commenting is simple – any fool can do it. Well, you’d be wrong because below are some common pitfalls that people constantly slip into:

• Trying to be clever can offend

If there is one thing that doesn’t convey well in the written word it is intonation and irony (OK, yes I know that’s two things). When we speak to someone face to face our body language and voice patterns show when we are being ‘funny’. Try and convey the same kind of message on a blog comment and you could come across as rude or offensive. Not a good thing.

However tempted you are at making a quip about someone else’s post, keep your comments professional at all times.

• Don’t hide behind your keywords

Sometimes you’ll see people reply using their keywords as their name rather than their real name. So, for example, if I was to leave a comment I’d put it was written by copywriter Suffolk rather than Sally Ormond.

Firstly it looks awful and secondly it takes away the personal nature of your comment. You wouldn’t introduce yourself as ‘copywriter Suffolk’ if you were meeting someone face to face so don’t sign yourself as that.

• Please, please, proofread before hitting send

This one pretty much speaks for itself. As with everything you publish on the net (and with other marketing materials) always proofread. Think how sloppy you’ll look if your comment is crowded with spelling or grammatical errors.

Yes, we are all time limited, but it doesn’t take long to read what you’ve written before hitting send.

• “Me too!”

This type of comment is a complete waste of space. If you are going to take the time to reply to someone’s post at least think of something to say. Even if you do agree with everything they’ve said try to expand on it. Give examples of why you agree – write something that adds value to the post.

• Read it before you comment

A lot of people with comment strategies simply look for the blogs in their field with the highest page rank and comment on everything – quite often without actually reading the post in the first place.

This type of ‘blanket commenting’ is of no value whatsoever. No one will be impressed. If you are going to use blog commenting as a traffic building strategy at least take the time to read the post, evaluate what’s being said and then write a considered, thoughtful comment.

• Don’t spam

This is the lowest form of comment known to man. I get loads of spam comments on both my blogs. A spam comment is where someone writes a comment that contains links to their own website – a thinly veiled advert.

This is not good practice and will result in you being labelled a spammer. And once you have that reputation it will be very difficult to shake it off.

Why do you need to know this?

Reputations can be built and broken in the blink of an eye on the internet. If you get blog commenting wrong, the word will be out in seconds and we all know how quickly information can pass from person to person on the internet.

• Make sure you have a plan
• Make sure you read posts carefully before commenting
• Make sure you read your comments before hitting send
• Be professional at all times

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